


Ambassador Sokka Versus The Turtleducks

by gaydaractivate04



Series: The Adventures of Ambassador Sokka [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, Almost Kiss, Awkward Flirting, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Flirting, Fluff, Gay Panic, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Sokka flirts, The Long Suffering Palace Guards, They had to watch all this happen, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko can't flirt, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko is kinda oblivious, until he's not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24923773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaydaractivate04/pseuds/gaydaractivate04
Summary: It isn’t unusual for the night shift of the palace staff to see their Fire Lord wandering the halls, a pair of guards trailing behind. It is unusual, however, to see someone wandering the halls with him.Fire Lord Zuko runs into Ambassador Sokka on his way to the kitchens, and after helping him pilfer an early morning snack, invites Sokka to the turtleduck pond with him.OrOur beloved, resident, Awkward Turtle Duck doesn't realize he's falling in love.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Adventures of Ambassador Sokka [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793116
Comments: 73
Kudos: 1377





	Ambassador Sokka Versus The Turtleducks

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all!! 
> 
> Again, thank you for such amazing comments!! I wasn't sure what to do with this one, so I decided to make it light, a happy read.
> 
> Hope you guys like the new installment!!

The nightmare wasn’t any different from all the other ones.

It still started with Agni Kai, with his father’s flaming hand searing his face. 

It still had his search for the Avatar, parts between his hunt changed - _the villagers starving and crumbling to the ground as Fire Nation soldiers march over them, screaming for him, asking why he didn’t help_ _them_ \- his literal worst nightmares coming true before his eyes.

It still ended with Azula’s body one the floor, her eyes staring and staring and staring, face fluttering between her’s and his mother’s -

Shattered smiles, stitched back together wrong -

The nightmares weren’t unusual. That was why the guards outside his doorway didn’t flinch when Zuko’s door opened a little too quickly, didn’t try to force him back to bed or inquire if they could help. 

Chen, the older of the two guards - _and his absolute favorite when it came to these midnight excursions, not that he’d admit it_ \- simply fell in step beside him, careful to keep slightly farther away than he would most people, on account of Zuko’s blind spot.

They’d found out the hard way how much he hated being snuck up on.

That was probably the reason why Shao, who’d joined the guard just three months ago as an untrained firebender, was more than a little nervous around him.

Zuko hadn’t hurt either of them, had never really attacked his guards - _at least that’s what they insisted_ \- but all it took was a nightmare that was worse than usual and Chen’s too light footsteps, before he had the guard pinned to the wall, his hand on his throat.

The wide, startled eyes and shallow breaths of his three other guards that night would be burned into his mind for the rest of his life.

They hadn’t moved to defend the other guard, instead resting hands on their swords as they looked between the two of them, waiting for the order to punish Chen, scared of getting in Zuko’s way or stopping him because of who he was.

Chen had reassured him that it was an accident and he was okay and no one had been harmed and he should’ve been more aware around his Fire Lord -

Zuko had given him two week of mandatory paid leave, only to find him in the courtyard sparring with Sumi the next morning. When asked, Chen had said - _cheeky smile on his face, well hidden concern in his eyes_ \- that he liked his job and could rest at the palace.

In the barracks. Eating the same food the others ate, not enjoying a meal with his family, who lived too far away to travel to the capital often for visiting.

Chen had offered to spar with him.

Zuko had left.

It had been two and a half months since then and Shao was still jumpy around him, still answering too quickly and looking at him like he was going to snap any moment, every time he was angry or frustrated.

At least the walk to the kitchens was silent.

Chef Saio - _he didn’t know her first name and, frankly, was too scared of her to ask_ \- didn’t look surprised as he walked in, just shy of three in the morning, his two guards in tow, though they stopped just inside the doorway.

The few other kitchen staff that rose at such an early hour didn’t give him a second glance, returning to the prep work they were doing. It had taken him nearly two years to convince his staff - _Saio’s staff_ \- that there was no need to help him and no need to bow every time he entered the room, especially when they were so busy.

Any servants that joined after that point were frequently confused with his first name basis for many of them and their outright ignoring when it came to him in the kitchens. 

Thankfully, it hadn’t taken long for the newer staff to start doing the same.

When asked why he wanted this by the few bold enough to do so, Zuko simply said that he didn’t like it and there was no need for it.

He knew that the palace workers knew who he was. It wasn’t necessary for them to be scraping and bowing and apologizing, all while calling him Your Majesty, every time he came into contact with them.

The title Fire Lord Zuko still made him feel like crawling out of his skin, but less so than Your Majesty.

In the peace of the kitchens he finally felt calm, the quiet bustling of the cooks and chopping of knives, spices and sugars filling the air.

It only took him a moment to prepare his tea, so used to this routine as he was. Jasmine leaves at the bottom of the cup, a kettle filled with water placed on the stove.

Heating the water using his bending took concentration and precision, as the water had to be at an exact temperature each time he poured. Too much deviation from said temperature ruined the cup and made the tea bitter, meaning Zuko had to start again.

Chef Saio and her staff had, thankfully, acted as if his first attempts at this never happened, in the early days of his rule when his night terrors were so much more vivid and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking as he poured the drink.

At this point, he pretty much had it down, quietly heating the water while the sun was still below the horizon, the kitchen lit by lanterns and the blazing oven alone. 

He had just poured his tea, the jasmine smell all too familiar - Agni, _he missed Uncle so much_ \- as he left the kitchens, when a hand clamped down on his forearm, the teacup dropping from his hands as he startled, heart thundering, guards drawing their swords and turning on the person who’d grabbed him -

Zuko caught the teacup. 

He breathed.

He turned to face his assaulter, Chen having pushed them back, a sword at their throat - _but not pinned, why not pinned?_ \- Shao standing between him and the others, an arm out and sword at his side.

“...Ambassador Sokka?” He could not be blamed for the way his voice cracked. He’d just gone through an _incredible_ amount of stress in the last night and the ambassador was just _standing there,_ his hair pulled into a messy wolftail, blue shirt hanging off one shoulder -

“Fire Lord Zuko!” He sounds just as surprised. “I - I didn’t recognize you, my apologies.” 

Of course he didn’t recognize him. Zuko wasn’t wearing the elaborate silk robes the nobles of his court seem to like so much nor was he clothed in any sort of Fire Lord regal, not even his crown perched in his topknot.

Instead, he wore a simple red tunic, loose maroon pants flowing underneath. The tunic had gold embroidering the hems at his seamstress’s insistence because _“You have to dress at least a_ little _like a Fire Lord”_ and clothes from the local market didn’t cut it.

And he was barefoot, much to his attendants’ chagrin.

“It’s all right.” Zuko’s voice comes out barely louder than a whisper, heart finally slowing down as it recognized that there was not, in fact, something attacking him. Chen lowers the sword, stepping away.

“No, I truly, truly apologize.” The chieftain-in-line looks like he’s seen a ghost, face pale and eyes wide as he takes in Zuko, trembling teacup and all. He hasn’t bowed yet and it seems like Sokka realizes that, realizes that as an ambassador he still has to bow -

Ambassador Sokka bends into a bow, clumsily forming the flame with his hands as he does. Zuko steps forward quickly, around Shao and his arm that is hesitantly reaching out to keep him back, past Chen who still stands at the ready, and gently grabs one of the man’s shoulders, pulling him upright.

“Please, don’t do that.” Zuko can’t tell if he’s more shocked at the request or the please. Probably both. “You didn’t mean any harm and I overreacted.”

Sokka looks like he’s about to protest, mouth opening as he takes half a step closer to him, the two of them less than a foot apart. 

Zuko continues before he can, waving a hand around the corridor as he speaks. “What did you need? You tried to pull me aside for a reason, what was it?”

Most of the guards and servants who work in the palace agree with what Zuko is trying to do, quietly supporting him with plates of food and extra tea as soon as he’s drained his cup, but if one of them has been disturbing his guests -

“I was kinda wondering where the kitchens were?” The ambassador phrases it as a question, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, shifting from side to side as he spoke.

“They’re just down the hall.” He waved his hand in their direction, narrowly missing hitting Chen in the face with it. His guards are used to his _expressive_ hand waving and he leans back, dodging it with ease. “Why?”

“Well, I was hungry and I figured since it was so early I could just sneak in and get a quick snack…” Sokka trailed off, crossing his arms defensively as the three stares leveled on him. “It wouldn’t have been missed!”

“You were planning on _stealing_ from the kitchens?” He can’t keep his voice at the calm level he usually tries to be at, in an effort to not spook his staff.

_Stealing? From Saio?_

“Not - not _stealing,_ just getting a few -” Sokka was scrambling for an answer, his hands protesting along with his voice. “...Yeah, okay. Stealing.”

Zuko sighs; he already knows where this is going to go. From the look on his guards’ faces, they know too. “I can get you some food.” 

It takes a quick explanation to Chef Saio, one she hardly listens to, already eyeing Sokka like he’s about to pillage her kitchen and flee, taking all the breakfast with him.

Zuko had left out the whole “stealing” part in his excuses of why he’d brought _another_ freeloader, as Saio called him - _nevermind that Zuko is literally the one that pays her_ \- but she still watched him more suspiciously than anyone he’d ever seen.

With an even quicker exit, he and Sokka, along with his guards, flee the kitchen - _leaving the breakfast behind_ \- after the ambassador made an offhand comment about the state of the giant, belching oven, prompting Chef Saio to threaten him with a spoon.

Vividly threaten.

The two of them are walking down the hallway, still breathless from their escape, Chen and Shao trailing behind, when Sokka stops, looking over at Zuko. His food is already eaten, stuffed into his mouth as they ran, crumbs falling from his hands as he brushes them together.

“What?” Zuko isn’t used to people looking at him like this, all wide eyed and smiley, not a trace of fear or respect or wariness in sight.

Considering they only met a week ago, it’s even more unnerving when Sokka’s face doesn’t immediately fall, his grin only widening as he slowly pointed at Zuko’s head.

“You - uh,” he starts, choking on a laugh. “You got a little something in your hair.”

He instinctively reached to touch the side of his head, patting gently, in search of something stuck to it, something tangled in the strands even as they were done up tight.

His hand comes away white. Powdery.

Flour.

There’s flour in his hair.

After far too long of staring down at his hand, doubtlessly gaping at it, he looks back up at the ambassador, who’s shirt is still hanging off of one shoulder. 

Who’s shirt also has a white stain on it, the powder trailing over his shoulder and down the side of the shirt’s arm, flour drifting off of it as he moved.

“You got something on you too.” Zuko grins back, so wide and hard it hurts his cheeks.

Sokka looks down at himself, catching sight of the baking ingredient on something decidedly not for baking - _though he does look like a snack...NO DON’T GO THERE DON’T DO IT_ \- his eyes going comically wide and jaw dropping, opposite hand coming up to try and pull the shirt off of his skin, like that would help the situation.

Then they make eye contact. And absolutely lose it.

You’d think the sheer volume of their laughing must have been enough to draw a few curious but concerned palace staff, if not the insane cackling and wheezing that followed every time they tried to look at each other again, set off by the other’s face.

If anything, the hour was to be blamed. Two sleep deprived leaders combined with early morning snack endeavours were not to be fooled with.

As it was, it takes nearly twenty minutes for both of them to get themselves back under control, Zuko utilizing breathing exercises as an attempt to calm himself down, Sokka stuffing a fist in his mouth and turned away, both accented by random little chuckles that keep bubbling up.

He doesn’t know what makes him suggest it - maybe the way Sokka had looked at him, maybe the first good laugh he’d had in a while, but he clears his throat and turns to face the man once again, who’s finally pulled his shirt onto his shoulders properly.

“Come with me, I have something to show you.” Zuko smiles, just a little, at the questioning look on the ambassador’s face. “I think you’ll like it.”

The walk to the turtleduck pond isn’t a long one, the garden’s paths clear of strolling nobles at such an hour. Chen and Shao trail behind, farther back than they had before, on some unspoken agreement. 

He sits on the edge pond, perched on top of the gray boulders that rest there, patting the stone next to him for Sokka to sit on.

The guards stop a little ways back, leaning against one of the larger trees, knowing this is one of the few places where space is non negotiable with Zuko.

It only takes a few minutes for the first of the turtleducks to come out, somehow sensing how close Zuko was to them, waking the little birds from their sleep.

Sushi, the mother of the brood of turtleduckings that follow her, comes out first, swimming quickly to where Zuko’s hand trails in the water. She rubs her beak against his fingers, nipping at him ever so gently, before allowing him to stroke her back.

Her four ducklings follow - _Mochi, Gooseberry, Pudding, and Izumi the Second_ \- and he names them out loud as he pets and coos at them, Sokka watching with an air of amusement around him.

“Gooseberry? Mochi? _Pudding?_ ” With each name Sokka says, he sounds more and more incredulous. “You named them after foods?”

“I was hungry,” Zuko snapped, pulling his hand out of the water so he could cross his arms. A glare is never proper unless your arms are crossed.

Sokka raised his hands in the air, the universal sign of _“hey I’m unarmed”_ , shrugging as he spoke. “Hey, I’m not judging, just curious.” He grinned at him, unperturbed by the glare - _now fake_ \- being leveled at him. “I get hungry too.”

He paused; Zuko waited for his next little quip, careful to not let his smile break through his scowl.

“I just don’t name animals after food when I get hungry.”

Zuko let out a little shout of outrage, jabbing Sokka in the shoulder - _hard_ \- before he could think better of it. Then he freezes, because _he just hit one of the ambassadors_ and _I’m the Fire Lord, I shouldn’t do that._

“What? What’s wrong?” In the distance, Zuko can see his guards straightening from the tree they leaned against, hands dropping to their waists as they waited to see what to do. Sokka moved into his view, eyes wide.

Concerned.

“Fire Lord Zuko. What’s wrong?”

“I - uh, I apologize, Ambassador Sokka. I shouldn’t have done that.” He was stepping over a boundary, he knew that. He’d just met this man and he was laughing with him and showing him the turtleduck pond and helping him pilfer food from Chef Saio and _hitting him in the shoulder._

_Oh Agni, what was going on with him?_

“It’s alright, okay? I’m fine.” A pause and then, “Please, just call me Sokka, at least outside of the meetings. Ambassador sounds all official and - ow!”

Zuko looked over at him, his little cry of pain far more high pitched than he’d expected. Little Izumi, as fierce as her namesake, was hanging on to Sokka’s elbow, her beak dug in deep.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, a renowned warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, hopping to his feet and trying to pry a baby turtleduck off his arm without hurting it, all while yelping and staggering, obviously caught off guard.

It wasn’t like you went around prepared to be attacked by vicious little turtleducks anywhere you went.

Zuko took pity on him, standing up to help him, gently stroking Izumi’s head as he tried to pull her beak open to wiggle her off. It was just at that moment that Sokka staggered a little too hard, his other elbow swinging forward and knocking Zuko back.

He trips with nothing to stand on, one hand reaching and grabbing Sokka’s shoulder - _the shirt had slipped off it again, he noted idly_ \- meaning to pull himself back to rocks, but only succeeding in bringing the man down with him.

The moment they hit the water, Izumi detached herself, swimming back to her mother and sibling as they headed away, squawking. 

_The traitor._

Chen and Shao are rushing over, hands off their swords - _thankfully_ \- as they sought to pull them out.

All Zuko could concentrate on was how close Sokka was, leaning over him, his legs framing the outsides of Zuko’s, face flushed and oh so close to his. 

“Sorry.” Sokka’s voice is a breathless gasp, water dripping from his hair onto Zuko’s thoroughly soaked shirt, the tie for his wolftail gone and lost. “Sorry, I just - I just tripped.”

“Yeah,” he says, and his voice isn’t much stronger, fighting to keep his eyes from going lower than Sokka’s nose after the initial once over. “It’s okay.”

Then the guards are arriving, two more having joined his usual amount, wading in and pulling the pair of them to their feet. Chen is checking to make sure nothing is injured, scowling fiercely at the spot Sokka had hit, the dripping fabric of his clothes clinging to him.

Sokka is escorted away, a towel wrapped around him, likely grabbed from a passing servant when the additional guards had seen the commotion.

He smiles over his shoulder as he goes - _flour well and truly washed away_ \- and Zuko isn’t even irritated when another towel is wrapped around his torso, Shao rubbing it back and forth vigorously because _“You have meetings this whole week, you can’t be sick at all of them”_.

He can’t be irritated, not with the warm feeling bubbling up in his chest, the only though in his head being:

_Oh._

_So this is what falling in love feels like._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to MuffinLance and their list of names they use for OC's, I have been borrowing them and will continue doing that (check out their writing if you haven't, they're AMAZING)
> 
> Izumi the Second is named after one of said OC's, Captain Izumi (captain of the royal guard, she'll be joining the story too)
> 
> Please let me know what you thought!! Love reading your comments, love seeing what specific parts you liked.
> 
> Stay safe and stay healthy!!
> 
> HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!!!!!!!


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